Nadeem Jafri

How do you pick the right consultant for your company?

Is it someone who speaks at your level? Someone who doesn’t hide behind jargon to impress, but takes the time to understand your business, your processes and, most importantly, your people?

In my 22+ years of entrepreneurship, I’ve worked with several coaches and consultants. Many brought expertise, but few were able to connect with my team or truly understand the ground realities of our business.

For me, a great consultant is not someone who sits on a pedestal and hands down ideas. It is someone who becomes a partner in the journey, who listens, participates, challenges, mentors and helps the team move forward.

Our team has been with us for over two decades. They are loyal, hardworking, grassroots employees who have built this business with us. The answer, therefore, isn’t to replace them. It is to equip them with the right technology, digital capabilities and confidence to evolve.

If we want to compete with the best, digitisation is no longer optional. We need to bring technology into our processes and use analytics to turn data into sharper business and market strategies.

When we discussed this with Shrijay Sheth and introduced him to our team, he immediately connected with them. He interacted as though he had known them for years. There was no jargon, just genuine curiosity, participation and an instinctive understanding of how to work with people.

We knew then that this was the kind of consultant we wanted alongside us: an expert who would partner us through our digital transformation, not simply advise us from the sidelines.

My mandate to Shrijay was simple:

“I have a team of Lagaan under Bhuven. Make them Team India under Dhoni.”

He picked up the challenge with a smile.

And today, Hire4Higher Consulting is an integral part of our think tank as we embark on this transformation journey.

In the late 1980s and early 1990s, board exam results were considered extremely important for securing a bright future. Admission to many engineering and medical colleges depended heavily on the marks obtained in these examinations.

I appeared for my board exams in 1990, but fell short of the marks required to secure admission to an engineering college. As a young student, I was clueless about what I wanted to do with my career. I moved to BSc and completed my graduation in 1993.

Later, I entered sales, but couldn't sustain the job. I then decided to pursue an MBA and joined a B-school. After my MBA, I joined media houses and eventually moved into advertising.

Looking back, it may appear that I was changing careers constantly. But in reality, I was searching for my path.

In 2004, I started my own business. It required enormous effort, and with a family to support, I also started working as a visiting faculty at B-schools. Again, it didn't seem like a straightforward journey.

But today, when I look back, I realise that every so-called failure was actually adding something valuable to my life.

Not securing the marks for engineering taught me that one exam does not define your future. The unsuccessful stint in sales pushed me towards an MBA and helped me build a professional network. Working with media houses gave me exposure and relationships. Working in advertising helped me develop a strategic mindset. Teaching at B-schools enhanced my knowledge, communication and mentoring skills.

And then came my business which taught me the most important failure lesson: our Juhapura store did not perform well initially. Instead of giving up, we were forced to think differently. We innovated, developed a franchisee network and eventually created a unique business model. What seemed like another failure became the trigger for innovation.

Today, I believe that sometimes when we face failure for a prolonged period, perhaps destiny is asking us to remain steadfast, think differently, learn from every experience and keep facing the challenge. Because the journey may be preparing us for something far greater than what we had originally imagined.

Failure may not always be the end of the road. Sometimes, it is the road itself.